The Hustler’s Playbook: On Slackers

I’ve been trying to come up with a word that describes the non-hustler. But I’ve chosen the term “non-hustlers” because I believe that so many of them have been infected with a too-small vision and a poor personal psychology. They have been infected with all of the negativity that is poured into their heads every day, especially through the mainstream media. But there is one group of non-hustlers who have made a choice to be what they are: Slackers.

The slacker has talent. He has the ability to perform excellent and exceptional work, but instead produces nothing notable or noteworthy. Where he could make A marks, he proudly scrapes by with a C-. The hustler who would do well to make C- grades produces better results than the slacker because she hustles. She does noteworthy work even when she lacks the natural talent.

The slacker proudly has a mindset that it sharp contrast to the hustler. Where the hustler is proud to put forth the effort, the slacker is proud of his cynicism. The slacker believes that everything is bullshit, that there is nothing worth his best effort, and that the cool thing to do is to sit passively and criticise “the suckers” who are out hustling. The slacker might be capable of producing a better result than the hustler, but their slacker identity won’t allow for it.

Where the slacker is proud of their lazy, sloth-like behavior, the hustler is proud of their productivity. Where the slacker is cynical, criticizing the rules of the game, the hustler is breaking those rules and bending the game to their world. Where the slacker sees nothing that excites him, the hustler sees the boundless opportunities that fuel the fire in her belly.

The non-hustler can easily be saved. They aren’t infected with the disease that the slacker carries. The non-hustler can easily catch fire when they adopt the hustler’s mindset (and it always, always, always starts with mindset). But the slacker has a more difficult time. They are so deeply infected, they have so closely held their identity for so long, that it is incredibly difficult to make the leap from slacker to hustler.

Pity the non-hustler, but not the slacker. The slacker has made a choice.